Category: Gambling and Casinos

As the popularity of online poker continues to increase, and more and more games are offered, thousands of players are signing up to play everyday. Eventually, as their skill and knowledge of the game increases, many of these people will end up playing online poker tournaments. Almost all of the major online poker sites now offer online poker tournaments seven days a week twenty-four hours a day. But, of course, as with anything else, it is important to know the game well and have a pretty good idea of how tournaments work and the general rules for each one before you rush out and sign up to play in one.

There really is no set in stone rules applied to poker tournaments. Each tournament may have it’s own set of rules and regulations, which is usually determined before the tournament begins. There are a few general rules that can be applied to most tournaments to better help players understand them before play begins.

One of the main rules for online poker tournaments is that each and every player will begin the game with the same number of chips allotted. Some tournaments will allow players to purchase additional chips later in the game, up to the starting amount. These tournaments are called buy-in tournaments. Not all online poker tournaments give players this option, so it is important to find out if it is available before play begins.

Another generally recognized rule of online poker tournaments is that all of the players begin the game at the same time. Some tournaments offer players the chance to just pop into the tournament at any time, but as a general rule of thumb in online poker tournaments that is not an option.

Players are also allowed to play in the tournament until they run completely out of chips, unless there is a re-buy option. The last player left with chips remaining is declared the winner of the tournament. Tournaments with the re-buy option usually will last a lot longer then normal tournaments, and occasionally will offer higher prize pools.

The last general rule for online poker tournaments is that the bid level has to increase at regular times throughout the tournament. Some tournaments will specify certain time frames in which the bid is raised, while others will base it off of a certain amount of play periods.

Online poker tournaments do generally follow these rules, and also have there own set of rules they use as well. It is up to each individual tournament sponsor to determine exactly what they want to happen in that particular tournament. When the online poker tournament has ended, and the final winner has been declared, prizes and winnings will be handed out. The majority of the prize pool will go to the final player left, the top winner of the online poker tournament. This usually breaks down to be about forty percent of all the prizes and money being offered. Twenty percent of the pool will go to the second place winner, and then ten percent will go to the third place winner.

Each online poker tournament will offer different prizes. Certain tournaments offer placement in a higher ranked tournament rather than actual prizes, and as a general rule, the prizes in these tournaments are higher than those of regular tournaments. Players in these tournaments win their right to play in the next tournament without having to pay an entrance fee, which is a bonus in itself.

It is a good idea to research into tournaments and the rules that apply before you sign up to play in one. Most online poker websites will list all of this information, and will also list the prizes to be awarded and how they are distributed among the winners. Once you have looked into the rules and general information on the tournament, you should be well prepared to participate in one.

With the advance of online poker, players are no longer relegated to choosing the only tournament available to them at their local card room. The excitement of tournament poker has been a driving force behind the new found interest in the game, as can be seen by the growth in tournament options and availability at all the top online poker rooms. While brick and mortar card rooms have traditionally been limited to 10 player sit & go’s or small multi-table tournaments, the now unrestricted web software has brought together literally thousands of players to participate in the same events.

Which size of tournament field will be the most profitable for your style of play can sometimes be difficult to discover without a lot of varied tournament experience. The different field sizes can be placed into four general categories, and each have unique features that can help the consideration of which tournaments are best to join.

The smallest size of a tournament you can expect to encounter is a 6 to 10 player single table sit & go. Sit & go’s are designed to start immediately when enough players sign-up, and their pay-out structure reward those that can earn a first place victory more often than average opponents. These tournaments accentuate player reading skills since each participant will be playing in many pots against the same opponents throughout the course of the tourney.

Tournaments that have between 11 and 100 players are usually of the multi-table format, scheduled for a specific time. Online tournaments of this size are usually finished in less than three hours, perfect for those players that lack the endurance or focus to be able to play for too long.

In bigger sized tournaments, between 101 and 300 competing players, having an advanced knowledge of hand values, game theory and tournament strategies is an important part of winning. In field sizes this big, poker hand situations are often encountered against unknown players that arrived from other tables, making it impossible to use our player reading skills.

Any tournament with over 300 players is often a marathon of poker that will take many hours or even days to complete! Endurance is an extremely redeeming quality at the poker table in tournaments this big because players start to make bad betting decisions when tired. Players able to play their ‘A’ game over long periods will have a decided advantage in these larger tournaments.

An honest evaluation of our poker abilities will help each player discover which tournaments are likely to be our most successful.There are many other factors also to be considered, but consistently choosing the correct size of tournaments for our personal style will have a remarkable influence on our results.

In the first part of this article we discussed in general terms how an online poker tournament works. In this article we’ll go into detail about the different types of tournaments.

Multi-Table Tournaments

Multi-Table tournaments are big tournaments; some can have 2,000 players or more. In a multi-table tournament, you compete against the players at your table, the winner of that table moves on to another table. This keep going on until there is only one player left. As you can imagine, multi-tables can last for quite a few hours.

Single Table Tournaments Or “Sit and Go” Tournaments

These are reasonably small tournaments, usually nine or ten players. You’re only competing against the other players at your table. These types of tournaments usually start when the required number of players has registered. These tournaments tend to be shorter then mult-table tournaments, often lasting around one hour. These tournaments often have only one winner.

Free Roll Tournaments

These tournaments are free. Pokerrooms periodically hold free rolls. Entry into one of these may be given away as a comp to existing players or as a bonus for making a deposit. In any event, it costs you nothing to enter, and you have a shot at willing real money.

Satellite Tournaments

Satellite Tournaments are smaller tournaments in which the prize is entry into a bigger tournament. At some pokerrooms, you can “satellite” your way all the way up to free entry into the World Series of Poker held in Vegas.

Here’s some additional info

Re-buy or Addons: some tournaments allow you to purchase additional chips after the start. There are usually specific rules about how much and when you can purchase. Also, the ability to purchase additional chips usually ends at a certain point in the tournament.

Blinds: During most tournaments, blinds increase periodically on a specific schedule. This is to help to shorten the length of the tournament, by making it more costly to simply keep folding. Larger blinds force players to play more aggressively.

NL/PL: These stand for No Limit and Pot Limit respectively. No Limit means a player can always bet all of his or her chips. Pot Limit means the maximum bet size can only be equal to the amount of the pot.

Well, I hope these two articles have given you a sufficient intro to online poker tournaments. The next step is up to you, if you think you’re ready for it. Good Luck!

If you’ve ever watched any of the number of Poker Tournaments on TV you’re probably aware of the excitement these tournaments can generate. There’s really nothing like going “all in” when you’re playing heads up, knowing that the entire prize pool is at stake. Well Tournament Poker is not just for the pros anymore. Your favorite Online Poker Room probably has a tournament going on right now. If you’ve never played in an online tournament here’s some things you ought to know.

Anatomy of an Online Poker Tournament

Most online poker rooms offer tournament play. A quick visit to their website will tell you everything you’ll need to know about their upcoming tournament schedule. Information like the buy-in, type of tournament, starting time is clearly displayed; you simply read the schedule and then make your decision. Here’s what a typical tournament entry looks like:

6:00 PM ET (10:00 PM GMT) 30+3 NL Texas Hold’em

This simply means that the tournament starts at 6PM Eastern Standard Time, it’s a No Limit (NL) Texas Hold’em Game. The 30+3 is the buy-in. These numbers tell you that it will cost you $33 to play in this tournament; it’s listed this way to let you know that you will be paying $30 toward the prize pool and $3 to the pokerroom. To play in this tournament you’ll need to register sometime prior to 6PM. Registration essentially means paying the entry fee ($33).

A few minutes before 6PM you should launch the pokerroom and login. Further details are specific to the pokerroom you’re playing at, but most likely you’ll automatically be taken to the tournament at the appropriate time.

At the start of the tournament, everyone will have the same number of chips (1,500 is a typical number). Play will commence as usual, blinds, the dealer button and betting order will be handled just like in non-tournament play. As hands won and lost and chips are moved around the table, some players will lose all of the chips and be eliminated. The tournament will continue until one player has won all of the chips. That person will be declared the winner and will take home the largest share of the prize pool.

Most tournaments will have more then one winner, some larger tournaments can have five or more. The final player will win the biggest prize; the second, third, forth… place finishers will each win lesser prizes. Any player that wins a prize is said to have finished “in the money”